Holiday Inn at CPT

Last night I went to see Christian Johnston, one of my former students, in a lead role in the musical Holiday Inn at CPT. I was very impressed with his performance and I thoroughly enjoyed the show!  Jim Hardy (Rich Adams), Lila Dixon (Allison Hogge), and Ted Hanover (Johnston) are a song and dance trio who play the occasional engagement in New York City.  Jim is in love with Lila and, when he proposes one night, she accepts him.  However, when she finds out that he has purchased a large farm in Connecticut and intends to leave show business, she decides to break the engagement and continue the act with Ted as a duo.  When Jim moves to the farm, he discovers that it is incredibly run down and that he owes the back taxes but he soon meets the former owner, Linda (Lindsea Garside), and Louise (Brittany Bullen), a fix-it-lady, and they begin renovating.  When Jim learns that Linda was once a performer in New York, he decides to turn the large farmhouse into a hotel and performance venue that is only open on holidays.  He writes a show for Linda and his former back-up dancers to perform on New Year's Eve.  When Lila decides to leave the act, a drunken Ted comes to visit Jim and stumbles into the number with Linda. When Ted sobers up, he is determined to find out who he danced with to make her his new partner but Jim has fallen in love with Linda and doesn't want to lose her to show business so he contrives to keep them apart. Chaos ensues! This is an old-fashioned musical filled with wonderful songs by Irving Berlin and fabulous tap dancing! I really loved the big song and dance numbers performed at the inn to commemorate the various holidays including "Happy Holidays," "Let's Start the New Year Right," "Cheek to Cheek," "Easter Parade," "Let's Say It With Firecrackers," and "Song of Freedom."  Johnston, Garside, and the male and female ensemble are terrific dancers and the holiday themed costumes and decorations are a lot of fun!  I also really enjoyed the popular songs "Blue Skies" and "White Christmas."  This is the kind of musical that will definitely put a smile on your face and give you a good dose of holiday cheer.  It runs at CPT through December 21 (go here for tickets).